Alloy of iron zirconium and silicon and process for the production thereof



' oxide,

- zirconium,

UNITE STATESPATENT OFFICE.

nnomson rn'rrgro'r, or mew Yonx, N.

r, assrenon 'ro nnrrnn' STATES mane armors conronn'non, or new YORK,

N. Y4, A. CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ALLOY or non 'zmoomnu m simcon aim rnocnss roa ran rnonncr-mn' 'rnnanor a No Drawing;

T o all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI, NAPOIEON;PETINOT, a citizen of the United States, residing-in the city of New York, county of N ew York, and Stateof New York, have invented a certain new and useful Alloy of Iron'Zirconium and Silicon: and Process for the Production Thereof, of which the following. is affull, clear, and exactdescription.

My invention rel tes generally, to an alloy which, when used-in connection withmolten steel or iron, will greatly improve their physical properties. v

' The principal object of my invention has been to provide an 'alloy, which, OIlztLCCQllllt of the proportions ofits-constituents and their chemical combinations, has certainyal- "uable properties when used in the treatment of molten iron and steel and willact, when added to molten steel or iron, as a scavenger for removing nitrogen and-oxygen therefrom. i "I have foundthat in the regular practice of treating iron and steel with vferro-zirco, nium that a certain amount ofizircon ium combines with the'oxygen existing: in the steel or iron either as free oxygen or combined as and forms ZllOOIlltllI). oxid. 'Th'iszi-rconium-oxid has a veryhighmeltin'g point and does not become fluid enoughjto-rise with-a slag tothe surface ofthe molten bath,

when thisbath has been treated with, ferro- The oXid1becomes-more or less pasty and stays entrapped in the iron-or steel as such oxid or it .is comhinedwith particles of 51a inthe metal.'- v By intro ucing-silicon in the alloy in cer,-' tain definite'proportions and then; using this? alloy for. the 7 treatment of iron or: steel; 1

have discovered that results are secured; whichare superior to those heretofore-fattained inthe art. flhis' is probably'because silicon and zirconium will oxidize giving as a resultant silica and zirconium-oxld which is a more'ifiusible combination. 1

I am aware that some alloys of zirconium and iron with a large silicon content have been manufactured. The silicon content in 1 such alloys is present mostly as an'impur ty and is reduced from the silica contained All the zirconium-01nd ore used. In my process I use an allo which has just enough zirconium and si icon in it to make the imprisoned slag oroxids fusible, and it is very Specification of Letters Patent.

some basic slag from a an zirconium be exact or they will have such-a high melting point that the desired results will not be secured.

I Patented Sept. 6, 1921. a nmi mea au m'is, 1919;, Serial no. sierra.

1 have found that iron or steel which is v treated with ferro-zirconium and which contains; at least 0.1% of silicon results in a much better product so far as physical quali- .ties areconcerned than iron or steel which does not contain the silicon. This latter statement applies more particularly to grades known as soft steel such as those used for wire zand sheets. In present practice the silicon in he iron or steel just referred to is derived from term-"silicon, which is added to the ladle when the steel or iron is tapped from. the furnace, added is oxidized to silica, thus forming a slag'which is left in the ladle after the steel 0111I'QI1} is poured off. 1

In my experiments preceding this invention and; whi h led to this invention, I took heat of steel, reduced it'to a-finerpowder and mixed it with 50% ,ofjtpure silicon-oxid. I fpund the melting point of this mixture'to be above 1900 centigradea I-then tookthe same mix and added thereto from 10% to 50% of silica and by determining the fusinglpoint, found mix of lowermelting point. This latter mixture was one in which the weight of silica was 15%of the weight of theoxid of zirconium.

I then-made an-,alloy of iron zirconium and silicon in such proportion that when combined with anyslag from the metal it is far more fusible than those mixtures which are obtained when the ferro-metal is treated with only ferro-zirconiumi My meltlng point of that portion of the slag .0'1" oxids which are scattered throughout "andimprisoiied within the molten mass.

If the zirconium and silicon are in proper proportions, the zirconium-oxid and silica formed will combine with the slag, or oxids which are imprisoned in the mass of molten steel, thus forming silico-zirconates, which Part of the silicon thus invention is designed to affect the have low melting points. These silico-zirconates, on account of their low. melting points, form relatively mobile liquids whlc readily escape from the molten steel, thus producing a'superior steel. Myitreatmentthan a .certain definite amount, the combination "will have a high melting" point. In order tobest carry out my process, the alloy should contain from 15% to-40% zircon1um,'fr.om'3% to 8% silicon, carbon in various amounts and the balance iron'. In this alloy the silicon exists as iron silicide and the iron and zirconium as a double carhid being partly combined with the carbon .and part of'the carbon bein in the graphitic state. The graphitic car on tained in the alloy. is probably by the presence of the s1liC011, Wl11Ch, as is well known tometallur 'sts, tends to throw graphitic state. I I

n making'my alloy, I use a-mixture of baddeleyite (zirconium-oxid) containing from 70% to 96% zirconium 'oxid. I also use silica, ironscrap and charcoal which together contain 50% or more of carbon.

,carbon out of the combination and 'into the as follows-z- Baddeleyite, 50 pounds. Quartz, 7 pounds. Charcoal, 25 o'unds. Scrap iron, '5 pounds. The above "proportions are given onl as an example and I do not, therefore, wis to 'The proportions of such a mixture may be be limited precisely either to the ingredients or the proportions named.

In makingmy-alloy', the mixture is placed into a furnaoe', prefera=bly of the Siemens type]; one, for example,- crucible made of a carbon or graphite and havlng a carbon electrode.

that which -is theoretically required to reduce the oxids,

9110 from using this reduced. it is not neces from any additional carbon WMQE will be supplied I have found by one-ton of alloy,

required in the mixture by the 'carbon electrode ex rience that in making 3 pounds of carbon from the electrodes have been used. This method of adding the required carbon seems to be more satisfactor'y than putting into the original mixture an excess of carbon. Carbon particles supplied fromthe electrode are at such a high temperature that they react more readily with the oxide to be reduced, than if they were incorporated with the original mixture.

At the end of the operation, whatever slag'is present in the charge is reduced by the carbon derived from the electrode and finally becomes such a thin layer that the arc is formed directl on the surface of themetal bath. At t is time the workin of the furnace becomes very unsteady an molten metal is projected from the crucible, all of which indicates that the reaction is completed and it is time to tap the finished the furnace.

avin thus described my. invention,

what I c aim is:

1. An alloyofiron, zirconium and silicon con in which the ratio of zirconium to silicon produced con embodying from 69% to 80% of iron combined with zirconium and silicon, the silicon bein quarter of t e weight of the zirconium.

3. The method of making an alloy of iron zirconium and silicon consisting in heating, in an electric furnace, a mixture containlng zirconium oxid, silicon oxid, and iron, the ironbeing in a greater quantity than the total quantity zirconium and silicon present, and that in such mixture, the ratio of zirconium and silicon be not less than 80 parts of zirconium to 20 parts of silicon and not more than 85 parts of zirconium to 15 parts of silicon, together with a sufiicient quantity of carbon to perform the reduction, whereby-an iron bath and a slag of silico-zirconates is formed, and the silicon and zirconium are absorbed b the Iron and the sillco-zlrconates are comp etely In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my-name.

NAPOLEON PETINOT.

in the propo'rtionpf about one-' 

